Chapter 3

The days seemed to move by fast for young Jin. His grandmother had made sure he packed everything he would want and need. She even packed a few tea leaves for him to have there to remember her by. The boy sat down in the restaurant kicking his feet back and forth. He had already worked the day with his grandmother and even had time to play with his friends one more time. The sun began to set in the window making him even more nervous.

"Oh that must be him coming now."

Jin paused hearing his grandmother speaking. He watched as she opened the door for the man. He saw them talking a bit but couldn't focus on what they were saying. He was more focused on the journey that he would be in for. Four whole years at an academy for benders. It was a lot to take in. June walked to her grandson and hugged him tight one last time.

"Be sure to write me my little Jin. Do your best."

June hugged him tighter and Jin laughed.

"I'll miss you Gran Gran."

She released her grip and held her chicken who seemed to be saluting Jin. He nodded and picked up his backs before walking to the man.

"Are you ready boy?"

Jin gulped and nodded.

"Alright then. Follow me."

He began to follow the man for a bit. He could see his grandmother's shop disappearing in the distance. When he noticed that they were far from the middle ring, he looked at the man.

"Um mister-"

"Please call me Fang"

Jin paused then looked at him.

"Oh um. Alright. Mister Fang. How might we be getting to this academy?"

Fang laughed slightly then stopped.

"By airship of course."

The nations had been at peace for quite a long time. Technology and methods had been transferred from all those who welcomed it. Of course, many were not aware of these advances due to tradition or poverty.

"Air.. Ship?" Jin paused as he heard him. "W-Wait! You mean like an ACTUALLY airship."

"Hm? Don't tell me you haven't been on one by now boy."

Jin rubbed his arm slightly. "Well… The tickets were always so expensive. I've been on the Monorail but that's about it…"

Fang rubbed his chin slightly pulling at his beard.

"Well then. You are in for quite a surprise."

The two males traveled to the base where the many airships had been placed. Airship seemed to be the most popular form of travel. Jin looked around in amazement as he saw the many people gathered to enter these beautiful metal beasts.

"Wooooow~."

He couldn't believe he actually had a chance to ride on these and not pay a thing. Fang bought the two tickets then kneeled down a bit to Jin's level.

"Here you are young man. One airship ticket."

Jin took the ticket and looked at it with a smile.

"Wow Mister Fang. This is amazing." He then paused when he saw a strange symbol on the ticket. "So Mister Fang. What's this symbol mean?"

Fang looked at the boys ticket then smiled. A small picture of a panda paw inside a white circle could be seen.

"Ah. That's the symbol of the academy's transportation ship. You see each student must travel to the academy by airship and to tell which airship you should enter at the station, they place this symbol on the ticket."

Jin smiled slightly. "So we will be getting on an airship with other's who will be traveling there?"

Fang shook his head. "No dear boy. To keep organization and to ensure that no one tries to sneak onto the airships, each newcomer and sponsor travel in a small personal airship."

Jin gulped slightly. "Wow…. That must cost a fortune."

"No worries my boy. Money has no effect to the power of knowledge."

Jin smiled slightly but still felt bad for knowing that he had to pay for everything. As they began to approach the smaller but visually artistic airship, Jin began to smile. The large doors were opened and soon the two males were brought inside.

"Feel free to rest. We have quite the ways there."

Jin nodded as he looked at Fang. The sun had set quite a while ago and he did feel a bit tired. He sat down and laid on his bag. He began to dream of what the academy would look like. His mind couldn't stop thinking about it. The excitement was coming over him even in his dreams.

As the next day began to approach, the academy was clear in distance. Fang had stayed up all not being sure to keep watch if anything had happened. He lightly shook Jin from his sleep.

"Wake up child. We are here."

Jin began to groan as he slowly opened his eyes. He sat up and yawned before seeing the academy in the horizon.

"Wooooah!"

Jin couldn't help but express his true excitement now. The school was quite large and sat upon a large cliff connected to a huge waterfall linked to the ocean underneath. It looked about the size of Ba Sing Se. It was a diamond shaped facility with four large temples on each corner. In the middle of the large land was a courtyard where he could see people gathered there already. Many buildings were scattered throughout the surroundings. Perhaps those were the actually classes. He looked across the sky seeing other small airships coming in as well. He looked at the large wall surrounding the academy where a group of men stood. One man began to earth bend the wall in half to make way for a few ships. Another began to water bend the water bellow to help actually ships in. One began to form a strong current to keep the airships from drifting off. A few fire benders began to light welcoming torches for the landing ships. It was such a brilliant sight to see all of the forces working together in such harmony. As the airship began to lower, Fang helped Jin gather his things and get off the ship.

"This is amazing! I can't believe this!" He said jumping for joy.

"It's quite amazing isn't it? And to think it only took thirty years to build." Fang laughed slightly.

Jin began to walk a bit getting closer drifting more and more from Fang.

"This is the greatest day of my life! I get to truly make something of myself. I can make my parents proud. Gran Gran too. It all starts here. I am reb-OOORRRRNN!"

Jin paused during his encouraging speech before crashing to the hard ground. He looked back and paused seeing he had tripped over a large and lumpy blue bag.

"Hey! Careful! You could have smashed my seaweed cookies and seal jerky!"

Jin paused hearing a voice. He looked up and blinked blankly seeing a boy above him. He looked about Jin's age and height as well. His skin was lightly tanned and his hair was in large dreaded locks that were pulled together for one messy ponytail. His attire showed he was from one of the water tribes. Jin scurried to his knees and looked up at the male.

"E-Eh. I'm sorry…."

Jin didn't want to make any enemies. Especially on his first day. The boy in front of him remained with his serious expression before breaking out into laughter.

"Oh my gosh you should have seen your face! Priceless! You really thought I was going to beat you up or something!"

Jin blinked blankly while seeing he was laughing.

"E-Eh…."

The boy in front of him soon stopped his laughing and held his hand out to Jin to help him up.

"The names Kuma. And thanks for crushing my snacks and giving me a laugh."